[X-Newbies] avi to DVD

[Michael Winter]

On Nov 3, 2005, at 6:51 AM, Charles Howse wrote:

> I have since learned how to split, join, adjust brightness,  
> preview, and
> troubleshoot problems.  It's no big deal...just like it says on the  
> main
> window of ffmpegX...1. Drop file, 2. Select a target format, 3.  
> Encode.

That interface addition has made a world of difference IMO. I had  
tried ffmpegX on and off for a long time, but more often than not I  
ended up with error messages and problems. About the time they made  
that drag-and-drop interface addition, they seemed to dramatically  
improve transcoding. IIRC, if you do as suggested above and choose  
one of the DVD options from the drop-down menu, it will do an "Author  
as DVD (Video_TS) as the default (under the options pane). That means  
all that's left is to burn it to DVD. For complete instructions see  
<http://homepage.mac.com/major4/dvd_sub.html>

So, IMO, (once installed) its no longer any more difficult (even  
easier) than the drag to iMovie, transfer to iDVD route. The down  
side is that it doesn't give you the pretty menus, etc. doing it this  
way (though it can be done). The other nice thing is you can fit any  
length movie on a DVD using this method. Plus it works with some  
movie formats (some avi's) that iMovie and QT Pro won't work with.

Really though, its great to have good, quality options available at  
little or no cost. Go Mac!

-Mike